


One Last Time

by woofskaya



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26116003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woofskaya/pseuds/woofskaya
Summary: Tomorrow, Edelgard would go to Enbarr. Today, she would reflect on how things would change.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Edelgard von Hresvelg
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	One Last Time

Tomorrow, Edelgard would go to Enbarr. She would go alone.

Her heart ached to know that her teacher was not on her side this time; couldn’t he understand how important this was? She wished she could have told him more. It edged on too much information just telling Byleth her destination - telling him her intent when she arrived there could be dangerously revealing. It could turn him away in full. 

Tomorrow, everything would change for Edelgard. A pang of remorse struck her to know just how much she would lose to reach this vital goal. The world she longed to build was not for herself, but for those who were trapped in a system of misery - one monopolised by nobles and crests.

The blood experiments she endured years ago meant that she may scant live past the end of this war. Like a mantra, she reminded herself that no matter what, she would end up saying the long goodbye to her friends from the Academy. They would come to meet their ends on the battlefield, or she would succumb to the Crests before they could reunite. It was a lose-lose situation emotionally.

When it came down to it, most of her schoolmates wouldn’t be so hard to bid farewell; she wasn’t terribly bonded to them all. Hubert was coming with her, naturally. There was no denying that there would be an ache in her heart to think on Petra, or to recall the antics of Caspar and Linhardt, or to even reminisce about sweet, anxious Bernadetta. And what of Ferdinand - her ‘rival’? It was hard to stomach that they could easily become her enemies, but the loss was not unhealable. 

There was an exception.

Her ponderance was cut short by a mellifluous call.   
“Dorothea!” Speak of the devil.   
The one person she didn’t want to leave behind was the one to disrupt her thoughts. The songstress caught the blatant distress in her face, and beckoned her over, pulling her into a tight hold.   
“What’s on your mind, Edie?” 

Would she even be able to tell her? Edelgard loved her with all of her being, but this put things into contention. Dorothea had a heart of gold, but to see the princess scurry away amid the chaos would certainly strike a nerve. Not to mention that she was going back to Enbarr; that she was going to take her true title as Emperor. And what of her intentions in doing so? Her continued silence raised worries, and she felt Dorothea’s fingers move through her hair, her lips pressing to the top of her head. She couldn’t remain mute.

“Dorothea… I have a rather odd hypothetical for you.”    
“Go ahead,” She kept Edelgard’s head cradled to her breast, sighing as she continued to pet her.    
“If I had to leave here one day, what would you do?”    
“I would go with you,” Her voice held a sense of certainty that could only come from obliviousness.   
“What if my leaving would also cause a rift with everybody else? Could you still follow me, knowing it would mean turning your back on the friends you’ve made here?” 

The songstress pulled away from the hug, and looked down at Edelgard with a creased brow. It was scrutinous, but not cruel.   
“This is a tough hypothetical, Edelgard. I’m not sure I like what you’re asking me.”    
“Humour me.”    
“It would depend on  _ why _ .” 

“There will come a time where I must take the role of the Adrestian Emperor. When that day comes, I will have to leave.”   
“I don’t see why I  _ wouldn’t _ follow you there.”    
“Perhaps the power will make me cruel,” The princess stated offhandedly, trying to disconnect her intention from the consideration, “What if I turned against here? Against the church? Against the nobility?”    
“Edie, why wouldn’t I follow you? If you did those things - I would only be more convinced. You know those nobles put a sour taste in my mouth.” 

The distance closed again as Dorothea wrapped her arms around her. Her words should have been reassuring; they should have said that she could trust her, that she could take her along to her coronation. It brought a more terrifying concept to mind. If Dorothea followed her into the jaws of war, she would surely die. Loyalty never paid in acts of heresy. To let her in would sentence her to the same fate Edelgard would suffer - an early death. 

She had started to cry. Dorothea rubbed her back in slow circles. They stayed this way a while, tangled in each other as the minutes waned. Sandalwood, jasmine, rose: these scents that had become synonymous with Dorothea filled her nose. Her floral perfume was tinted with notes of oudh - dark, woody, homely - that rounded out to a distinctive comforting sensation. In nights alone, those smells permeated Edelgard’s sheets, helping to lull her into slumber.

Her arms felt like the perfect fit for Edelgard’s small frame. To feel them wrapped around her was to feel like a swaddled baby: soothed. Dorothea’s hands were always soft, her nails meticulously kept, occasionally decorated, never chipped and never dirty. Jewelry always adorned her wrists, rings on her fingers, which in moments of peace Edelgard would toy with, twisting around the digits gently. 

Dorothea cooed quiet condolences to the woman in her arms, kissing softly where the hair met her head. Even when she spoke, her voice could be likened to that of a song. Those honeyed tones could tell the most boring story and still have someone under its spell. Edelgard had learned a centuries worth of tales just by requesting Dorothea speak them to her. 

Every comfort she had come to know, every ounce of love she had shared and received, every tender moment in each other's arms - in one day’s time, those would be gone. Edelgard’s crying worsened. This would be the final time she got to hold her. 

Tomorrow, Edelgard would go to Enbarr. She would go alone.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a kinda sad one, but the idea was bouncing around in my head.
> 
> Based around Lacrymaria Olor by Nicole Dollanganger


End file.
